Measure a year

I've had some complaints about the lack of pictures on my blog, so I'm repenting. Here, then, is a year in the life of Baby J, in reverse chronological order (because I'm just repenting, not excelling) (captions below the picture in question):


December 2008: This is Christmas morning, after J's early morning meltdown and before his bliss was complete with the acquisition of his fabulous kitchen paraphernalia.

November 2008: This picture was taken in our front yard (notice the lack of snow). Here J is trying to eat a leaf before I can snatch it away. This particular smile is one he flashes often when he's being naughty and you have caught him.

October 2008: This was his second of two Halloween costumes. Our memory card suffered a fatal error on the night of the first Halloween party, so we missed getting a shot of his clown get up (very cute, though his head looked huge in the pompomed stocking cap). The second costume was all the husband's vision and came together in one afternoon after a quick trip to Goodwill. The husband is also responsible for the very authentic hair!

September 2008: Baby J goes to his first football game at the local high school (to watch one of the Seminary boys play). It was unseasonably cold that night and then it started to rain, so we left early, after it became clear that the one blanket we had brought was not going to be enough.

August 2008: J was late to solid foods, the product of laziness on my part and some travel in July, but he took to them more or less well, particularly sweet potatoes, which he is modeling here.

July 2008: From the time he learned to sit up in June until he could crawl, MUCH later, J would spend much of his day here, on a quilt in the living room by his basket of toys. He has always been able to amuse himself for unbabylike lengths of time.

June 2008: Shortly before this, J learned how to pout, all on his own. He was in a rotten, fragile mood this day, so I just got ready to catch the pout that I knew was coming before the meltdown that was sure to follow.

May/June 2008: My mother came to save the day at the beginning of the summer term when I had to go back to work to finish out my contract. As you can see, J was horribly disappointed with this situation!

April 2008: This was just a random day on our porch. I like this picture because it chronicles the short time J spent in the Bumbo chair before his thighs were too chubby and because he looks like some sweaty old man in his too small onesie with that strained expression on his face. In fact, he's trying to escape the Bumbo by hurling his torso backwards as hard as he can.

March 2008: In the early months, we were still going out to eat a lot what with the two paychecks and the very portable baby. This picture was taken on the porch of a restaurant called Taco Boy down the road at Folly Beach. There were no tables inside and so we sat out, but it got, once again, a lot colder than we expected, so here J is bundled in all the blankets we had in the car and all the clothes we could find to put on him from the diaper bag.

February 2008: I don't know how many hours J spent like this, swaddled in his Miracle Blanket, bouncing vigorously in his bouncy chair as we tried to put him to sleep. Sadly, too much of that time was spent with him looking just like this: cranky and awake.

January 2008: Because of his jaundice, J spent extra time at the hospital under the lights. Because of his size and his protective eye gear, he looked like a giant vacationing among the other tiny little sick babies in the nursery.